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On the Legislative Front
Courtesy of Cheryl Davenport:
I attended a legislative meeting/luncheon in Indianapolis to lobby our State Senators on behalf of IRTA. The most pressing
matter was the COLA bill, which was still alive. We lobbied for 2% for those retired before July 2001 and 1% for others before
July 2007. The Governer's budget allowed for only 1 1/2%. I met with our Senator Jim Lewis who supports our proposal.
Among other interesting info was a study sheet by the Pew Charitable Trusts on retirement funds. This reported that ITRF
is one of the nation's most underfunded teacher pension systems, i.e., only 44% funded in 2006. Also it is one of only 2
states that provide no retiree health care benefits to those over 65. The speaker also shared the fact that the rise in health
care costs is 7.3% more than inflation.
The IRTA bulletin site:
http://www.retiredteachers.org
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